The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery have announced that London based multi-sensory and experience design-duo, Bompas & Parr will be the pre-party artists for Toronto’s most notorious art party, Power Ball XX. Founded by Sam Bompas and Harry Parr, the artists will create a one-night-only, carnivalesque adult funland to celebrate Power Ball’s milestone 20th year and reflect this year’s theme, Carousal. Tickets for the annual fundraiser, taking place on Thursday, May 31, 2018, are now available for purchase at powerball.thepowerplant.org.
Bompas & Parr’s highly anticipated activation at Power Ball will transform the gallery into a space of circusry fit for the party’s big, bacchanalian birthday celebration. With an artistic and taste-centric approach on the funfair of yesteryear, traditional rides and childhood fan favourites – think carnival slides and house of horrors – will be re-imagined by incorporating powerful taste components that exoticize the guests’ experience.
“With this year being the 20th year milestone for Power Ball, we’re honoured to support Canada’s leading public art gallery and contribute to a birthday bash worthy of the Power Ball name,” says Sam Bompas, co-founder of Bompas & Parr. “We can’t wait for guests to enter our world and immerse themselves into nostalgic experiences with a little twist. Our installations will see guests explore funfair like they’ve never experienced before – a more adult version, if you will.”
Globally recognized multi-sensory artists Bompas + Parr’s backgrounds in architecture and marketing play a key role in their investigations into the intersections of food, art and emotion, and how taste is altered through synaesthesia, performance and setting. Described as “real-life Willy Wonkas” Bompas & Parr’s highly researched installations – combinations of food history, contemporary culture and science lab experiments – boast a distinct aesthetic style and interpretive vigour that is unrivalled.
The duo has worked on countless projects across the UK and are most-known for their jelly-making structures. To celebrate Bompas & Parr’s ninth birthday, the studio launched the Jelly Parlour of Wonders in London’s most famous department store, Harrods. The installation represented the first retail range of Bompas & Parr’s unique approach to jelly, with customers being able to choose from a range of jelly shapes and flavours.
Photo Credit: Ann Charlott Ommedal
“With Bompas + Bar as Power Ball’s Pre-Party Artists, you just know something wild and exciting is waiting for you on the other side of the door,” Gaëtane Verna, Director of The Power Plant. “Known for their fun, sensory and flavourful projects, the duo will certainly bring out the inner child of our guests and stimulate everyone’s senses at Power Ball XX.”
In addition to Bompas & Parr’s activation, guests at the Pre-Party will be treated to a food and drink experience catered by DaiLo. Working in tandem with the artistic duo, DaiLo will create dishes that are juxtapositions between the old and new, coinciding perfectly with this year’s highly anticipated theme. Tickets to the Pre-Party can be purchased here.
Confirmed artists, entertainment and additional details for the notoriously innovative Power Ball XX: Carousal presented by Max Mara will continue to be announced. Follow The Power Plant on social media or sign up for the newsletter to stay up-to-date.
For more information on The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, visit ThePowerPlant.org.
